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Aug 12, 2018

Crowd-funded headstone marks lost grave of poet William Blake

The lost resting place of British poet and artist William Blake was
finally marked Sunday with a gravestone, almost 200 years after he died.
Despite his influence today, Blake died in obscurity in 1827 and was
buried in an unmarked common grave in Bunhill Fields, a London cemetery.

Only a plain memorial stone recorded that he was buried nearby, much to
the dismay of two devotees who visited, and who decided to find his
exact resting place.

Luis and Carol Garrido had as their guide the original coordinates of
his burial, which were based on a grid of graves but became confused
when parts of the cemetery were converted into gardens.

After two years of research and some painstaking work with a tape
measure, they found it, and the Blake Society -- of which they were
members -- began fundraising for a new memorial to mark the spot.

The society raised £30,000 (33,500 euros, $38,300) through donations from around the world, as well as a benefit gala.

The engraved slab of Portland Stone unveiled on Sunday reads: "Here lies
William Blake, 1757-1827, Poet Artist Prophet", followed by two lines
of his verse.

"It matters that we recognise those who have contributed to our cultural
heritage, and no creative genius has influenced people to the
extraordinary extent as William Blake," Nick Duncan, a trustee of the
Blake Society, said in a press release.

"Yet almost two centuries after his death, Blake's grave is unmarked.
People walk unknowingly over it, dropping litter and thinking of other
things."

He added: "At last lovers of Blake from all over the world will have a point of pilgrimage."